Comment by JumpCrisscross
3 days ago
> You could also raise taxes as an alternative
The tax base is mobile in a way expenses are not.
I'll speak to this personally. In April 2021 New York City raised its top tax rates. I'm only moderately wealthy, but that prompted my moving out of the state.
This is an even better argument for universal pensions (which isn't Social Security, as was never meant to be treated as a pension to begin with)
Same as universal healthcare, seems like you net benefit by removing these burdens from localities and businesses.
> is an even better argument for universal pensions (which isn't Social Security, as was never meant to be treated as a pension to begin with)
That's one option. Another is better distributing productive capital. Building public housing so its occupants wind up owning it, for instance.
But that's getting into top-down redistribution at the federal level, which isn't in the cards for now. Within the context of cities and states, pensions are no longer a good idea.